Description: Mr. George Lucas will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. Haskell Wexler, on Saturday, March 21, 2009 during a special ceremony.

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George Lucas's devotion to timeless storytelling and cutting-edge innovation has resulted in some of the most successful and beloved films of all time. His films celebrate the boundless potential of the individual to overcome any limitations -- something he firmly believes. This theme is strong in the early movies that marked the start of his professional career. In 1971, using San Francisco production studio American Zoetrope and long-time friend Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer, Lucas transformed an award-winning student film into his first feature, THX-1138.

Lucas' second feature film, the low-budget American Graffiti (1973), became the most successful film of its time, and garnered the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics' and National Society of Film Critics' awards. Pushing the boundaries of storytelling into new directions, American Graffiti was the first film of its kind to tell multiple stories through interweaving narratives backed by a soundtrack of contemporary music.

It was Lucas' third film, 1977's Star Wars, that changed everything. A deceptively simple morality tale of good versus evil told across a fantastic landscape of exotic planets and bizarre creatures, Star Wars became an international phenomenon, despite the fact that few saw its potential during production. Refusing to accept the limitations of filmmaking at the time, Lucas created his own visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, to deliver the hundreds of shots that were required to make his vision a reality. Star Wars broke all box-office records, set new standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound, garnered eight Academy Awards, and inspired a generation of young people to follow their imagination and dreams.

Lucas has been the storywriter and executive producer of a series of box-office beginning with the continuation of the Star Wars saga: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983. In 1981, he created the classic adventurer Indiana Jones, and co-wrote and executive-produced the successful series consisting of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a trilogy that won eight Academy Awards. Later, a television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, won 12 Emmy Awards.

The success of Star Wars allowed Lucas to remain independent and continue operating in Marin County, Calif.